Culture: Aspects and Elements of Culture Meaning of Aspects and Elements of Culture
Culture: Aspects and Elements of Culture Meaning of Aspects and Elements of Culture
Culture: Aspects and Elements of Culture Meaning of Aspects and Elements of Culture
Culture can be defined as all the behaviors, ways of life, arts, beliefs and institutions of a population
that are passed from generation to generation. Culture has been called “the way of life of an entire
society”. As such, it includes codes of manners, dress, language, religion, rituals, norms of
behavior -as law and morality - and systems of beliefs, as well as the arts.
As stated before, culture is the totality of people's way of life, so it is compatible with human life.
It is argued historically that, culture started simultaneously with the creation of man and the
formation of communities of people, as they were adopting themselves to their environment and
struggled to sustain their livelihoods. As human beings started to struggle for basic needs in their
environment, they used different tools, ranging from stone to iron tools such as axes, arrows pots
and knives.
At the beginning culture was also determined by wearing style. Previously man made clothes using
animal’s skins, grasses and trees. Language was used in communication especially when man
established permanent settlements. Language united people during working, such as cultivating
and hunting; through language man was able to construct songs and poems, which were used as a
part of refreshments particularly when issues arose such as traditional rites. Although culture went
hand in hand with human life, it varied according to the needs of the society, and the influence of
environment.
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2. Intellectual culture; This is societal knowledge, skill and technical ability to organize and
produce things as well as how one relates with others. This includes the achievements reached in
science, education, ethics, literature and art. It is also reflected in the political ideas, civic
education, legal relations, language, speech and behavior.
Essentially, culture consists of traditional ideas, particularly their associated values. These include
standards of behavior and ideology which justifies certain ways of behavior. Culture is rooted in
the facts we know about human nature. There is an interplay between man, his environment and
society. As a result of this interplay, man behaves in certain ways.
Man shapes the environment and he is also shaped by his environment. Thus, while it is true to
say that man makes society, it is equally true to say that society makes man. Hence, culture refers
to the total way of life shared in the society. Culture therefore, consists of behavior patterns that
are either open or hidden.
Open or explicit behavior patterns are those whose meanings are easily understood either by an
individual or outside observers. Examples could be like patterns of modesty and hospitality. This
does not mean that an open pattern of behavior is universal and is practiced in the same way in all
cultures. In fact, there can be many variations in its expression from one culture to another.
In hidden or implicit behaviors patterns, the meaning of these patterns is not easily understood
because it depends on other factors which are hidden in the cultural system. The inner aspect is
not open and is either deliberately concealed or pertains to the unconscious life of the group. There
are many concealed social practices in all parts of the world, especially common social fears; fear
of the evil eye, fear of witchcraft , fear of speaking openly about sexual matters, taboos, fear of the
luck on certain days or after certain occurrences like split salt. Although the practice of these things
may be open and public, their meanings remain concealed. In most parts of Tanzania, salt is not
asked for or bought at night by mentioning the word "salt,‟ instead people say "dawa ya jiko,‟
literally translated as "kitchen medicine.‟
Man needs culture in order to survive, but in order to be cultured he must participate in the cultural
life of his human environment. He must get line with the norms of his human environment.
Therefore, in this sense man lives by his culture. It follows therefore that, culture is the common
way of living.
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Elements of culture manifest themselves in physical and practical ways.
a. Customs and Norms: Customs refer to short-lived patterns of behavior shared by members of a
group and can be directly observed. For instance, people who know each other greet by shaking
hands whenever they meet while others hug each other. However, customs differ from one society
to another. The set of customs form one of the indicators of culture.
Norms are accumulated experiences proven to be acceptable and appropriate in a given society,
and they have a tendency to exist for long periods before they change or disappear. This forms the
main difference between norms and customs as norms have a tendency to exist for long periods
before they change or disappear. Whereas customs on the other hand are passing and vulnerable
to change. Take for instance, the wearing of clothes, shoes or hats in a certain fashion usually
changes with time.
Norms can be classified in different ways. All groups are called folkways and they are further
subdivided into mores. There are special folkways that a society regards as essential for its welfare.
Mores are enforced with great vigor and intensity. Folkways are practices that govern most of our
daily routine and ordinary contact with other people. They often define what is socially correct
and are informally enforced. However, the violation of folkways is not considered as a threat to
the group at large. Folkways can include the daily practice of things such as language and seating
habits. Take for example, someone may not be allowed to use his left hand to eat or to adhere to
the proper way of greeting elders.
Folkways define proper etiquette in various roles. For example, they distinguish children's roles
from men's roles. They govern our general style of life in types of housing, dressing, food and
feeding habits. Other behavior patterns include education, marriage, recreational activities, youth
initiation, science and technology. Furthermore, death and burial procedures, forms of governance,
respect to status and mode of communication to people of different ranks are essential to the
folkways of a given society.
On the other hand, mores are norms that are considered vital to the welfare of a society. They are
not only proper but also obligatory. They are supported by the dominant values or principles of
the culture. Mores define right and wrong, moral and immoral actions, thoughts and feelings. They
may be expressed in a command way such as “You must not!” in which way they are referred to
as taboos.
Fashions are highly passing patterns of behavior. Fashions allow many changes in norm. Things
like art, dress or furnishings can change so fast. Fashions appear to be of high importance in
complex urban societies. Women usually change their dressing styles from time to time, to stay
up-to-date with the changing fashions.
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(b) Language: This is another important element or indicator of culture. Language is a learned,
shared and arbitrary system of vocals and symbols through which human beings communicate. It
is a system of convectional symbols that covey meaning and is a useful instrument in all economic,
social, political, psychological and ideological aspects of society. Language is not only a
communicative instrument but also is a product of work. In their effort to produce goods and
services, people develop words and therefore, language is further developed. Each language shapes
and shows the culture, behavior patterns and understanding of the group that speaks it. It presents
to the learning child a ready–made and distinctive way of looking at the world. It also guides
him/her to not only observe the world in a certain way, but also to express him/herself and react in
a certain way. Every language has an effect upon what the people use, see and feel, as well as what
they talk about.
The names given, for example, to various relatives in different cultures are often symbolic as they
connote different behavioral norms. In Kiswahili for instance, we regard the brother of our father
as our father, and the sister of our mother as our mother. This helps indicate how close these
relatives are to you and therefore, the kind of behavior you should express towards them.
Language is an instrument that enables communication among people in their customs, norms,
philosophy and ideology of a given society. Over 100 languages are spoken in Tanzania, most of
which from the Bantu family. After independence, the government recognized that this posed a
threat to national unity and as a result introduced the Swahili language (Kiswahili) as the only
official language. The government introduced it as the teaching language in all primary schools
help encourage and spread its use.
Given the conditions of the material time, it was not possible to introduce the language in the entire
educational system as the scale of the task of producing Swahili textbooks for primary schools was
already considerable. As a result, English (which has been considered the colonial language since
the end of the First World War) is still used in high schools and universities. However, a great
majority of Tanzanians have accepted Swahili, thus English is generally not well known. As a
result of this linguistic situation, many pupils who finish primary education cannot express
themselves well in English. Although many tribal languages are actively practiced and used, they
do not enjoy the same linguistic rights as Swahili. However, little by little they are disappearing.
To date, none of them has entirely vanished, but it is clear that unless the linguistics policy is
changed, many of them will soon cease to exist.
Kiswahili as the national language in Tanzania has the function of developing, enhancing and
maintaining the nation's culture. How then does Kiswahili as a national language promote national
culture? Kiswahili like any other language has symbols that are spoken or written. And these
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symbols have specific and arbitrary meanings in society. Before we can answer the question above
on how Kiswahili can promote national culture, we should first discuss the possibilities.
First, language caries people's experience beyond an immediate time and place. That is, when these
symbols (words) are spoken and/or written, the meanings conveyed stay for a longer time and they
also go to distant places beyond where these words were spoken or written. Let us look at the
experience we have from words spoken by our ancestors and words written by other people who
lived far from where we live.
Every one of us has a list of traditional stories that were told to him or her by one of his/her
grandparents. This story could be about bravery, praise, sorrow or happiness. Whatever meaning
the story had, it created some feelings that had an impact on your attitude. The result of this impact
is the change of your behavior in the community.
We have songs and other written literature about our nation, leaders and people as a whole. All
these have helped create feelings towards the love of and for our country. There are feelings that
can lead to the defense of someone's nation. Songs like “Mungu Ibariki Tanzania” (God Bless
Tanzania) and “Tanzania, Tanzania” inculcate patriotism to Tanzanians.
Certain words in these songs have a psychological impact on Tanzanians. Patriotic phrases like
“Jina lako ni tamu sana” (Your name is very delicious) imply a strong love for one's country. Such
words create and promote national culture in that they are learned and shared with others and
therefore, socially transmitted. This makes the whole society have a common belief and attitude
that the song relates to them, known as patriotism.
A common language binds people together. To speak the same language is to have a strong bond.
And this strong bond enables a person a person to work together, which is one of the most favorable
cultural values.
(c) Art: This is an element or indicator of culture. Art as part of culture is an expression which
reflects the feelings, attitudes and level of development of a society. Arts denote man made things
displayed to be enjoyed. For instance dramatizing and singing. Any art which originates from a
given society has roles to perform for that society. For example, it reflectively shows what people
have done in their struggle for survival. The carvings, the painting, the songs, and drama represent
certain actual struggles or practical life these people have experienced before.
Forms of Art
1. Using sound such as in singing or pronouncing a speech.
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2. When someone combines language and instruments like when doing some things like singing,
drumming and dramatizing.
3. Visual aids like pictures, maps, paints and cinema.
4. Demonstration of cultural troupes, sport, and games.
Art reflects the feelings of patriotism in the struggle for the development of a national economy.
This situation drives people to the extent of musicians coming up with songs calling for change in
national institutions, whereas some defend, support and praise national institutions.
Art reflects the type of problems encountered by a given society. These problems can be social,
political or economic. The drawings in the Kondoa caves typically reflect the economic occupation
of the people in that area in the past.
Art is one of the most effective communicative systems in traditional societies that tend to be
illiterate. Art is used to convey, store and preserve important events and phenomena in a society.
Important memories in life can only be artistically expressed to appraise events. Art also preserves
records of those successes in different forms.
(d) Rules: In their collective form, rules or patterns form another indicator of culture for behavior,
known as Norms. These rules are those that members of a group, community or society agree to
follow. The rules determine what is right or wrong in a given society. Norms are connected with
ranks as well as situations and are recognized into roles. The pattern of behavior expected of people
differs from ranks, such as husbands, fathers, citizens, employees, and children.
It is also a norm for our children to start greeting and vacating seats for elders in certain situations.
Norms include the most important things in the society. Consider things like taboos, legacy,
history, rituals, treatment of diseases, respect, obedience and laws concerning marriage, births,
inheritance and burial ceremonies to mention only a few.
(e) Recreation: Another important element of culture is recreation. The word recreation means
relaxing and amusement. In any society where work is done, recreation is quite necessary. Work
tires the body and mind so it is vital to rest and experience entertainment. Good entertainment is
that which refreshes a person e.g. voluntary hobbies, sports, games, music and even dancing.
(f) Ideology: Ideology combines the beliefs of people and is this element of culture that lays down
principles and conditions to be followed by a given society. Ideology forms the foundation for all
other elements of culture. The mode of production is one which explains the way people own
property and how they share what they produce.
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The fact that the ideologies shared by a society is a product of how people own property, it is clear
that the type of ideology prevailing in a society will be a true reflection of the type of the
organization of the economy in general. For instance, in a society where the dominant type of
ownership is private, the beliefs of the people in that particular society is competitive and
individualistic.
(g) Laws: Laws form another indicator of culture; there is no culture without laws. We can define
laws as deliberately formulated rules of behavior that are enforced by a special authority. Laws
serve several purposes; they enforce the mores accepted by the dominant cultural group in the
society, regulate new situations not covered by customs and bring about the real cultural and ideal
patterns of a society. The enforcement of norms by law in Tanzania is the responsibility of the
society and community as a whole. For instance, it is the responsibility of every individual, family
and community as a whole to make sure children go to school. Failure to implement this obligation
may result in the forces being applied to enforce this law.
(h) Cooperation: this implies interacting with others in the community. It helps not only the
members in getting insight into what goes on in the community but also gives a chance to members
to learn and benefit from the community. It is very important for each organization to stabilize
personal relationships between members of society. This is essential to primary or secondary
groups. Primary groups in this context include the family, schools, organized clubs, or villages
where members know each other. Secondary groups include large societies and nations.
Man is a social being because he likes to live and work in groups. These groups are normally
organized for short or long periods of time. In all societies of the world today, people live and
work together with the objective of assisting one another in producing commodities for their
consumption. These include the production of food requirements, the provision of social services
like building houses, harvesting, attending funerals, and holding ritual ceremonies. These activities
were some of the social values of cooperation during the communal period of life and were carried
on up to the time when foreigners came to Africa. The same practices are still maintained in some
societies though, with some modification. The spirit of cooperation has been and still is an
important social value for maintaining national unity. Without this cultural value, individual
members would not have been bound together to form an integrated nation.
(i) Tradition: These are experiences of the past that are inherited by a society and are unchangeable.
They include marriage, food, local brews, funeral ceremonies, family care and home economics.
Other aspects include initiation, worshiping system, sports and games. Every society has its own
tradition.
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(j) Crafts and tools: Tools are instruments of labour used by people for production and they differ
from one society to another depending on the nature and level of technology of the society. For
example, tools used in the Stone Age were poor compared to the tools used during the Iron Age.
These tools included iron hoes, axes and pangas. Crafts are technological creations by man that
express man's culture. Examples of crafts are decorations and carved materials. These differ in
form according to the culture of the society. People utilize, and in some cases exploit their
environment to make crafts.
The Importance of the Cultural Elements: The values of culture help future generations to know
how to escape from bad practices and evils in the society such as drug and child abuse, stealing
and any other kind of bad behavior which is not proper in society. Ethics are passed by adults to
young ones through informal education.
Language is used to convey messages and is also part of the identity of a nation. For example,
Kiswahili in Tanzania distinguishes the nation of Tanzania from other nations in the world who
use different languages such as English, French and German. Language can be used to unite,
educate and inculcate a sense of awareness to youth.
Sports and games promote unity, cooperation and friendship among social members. This is
because sport and games collect people together to share different ideas and build a better society.
Crafts in particular, provide households with necessary materials such as furniture, pots and
baskets which are used daily. Some of them can be sold to provide money for people, hence a
source of income.
Traditions are also worthwhile. For example, initiation ceremonies prepare young boys and girls
for their responsibilities to society as adults. They promote people from childhood to adulthood.
Some traditions and customs such as marriage and burial ceremonies bring people together at times
of problems and/or pleasure.
Customs help societies adopt certain cultural values like dressing style, eating habits, hairstyles
etc. which are sometimes worthwhile for acceptable in certain occasions - e.g. in wedding
ceremonies.
Art helps us express our feelings, attitudes and events in a very enjoyable way – e.g. through songs,
drama and pictures.
Recreation refreshes a person after hard work. It helps people relax and gather energy before they
engage in production again. Hence, recreation is important to man. Ideology is another important
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cultural element because it lays down principles and conditions to be followed by a given society.
Thus, it provides a guideline to how people should live in a given place and time.
Like ideology, rules and laws are very crucial cultural elements as they defend social norms and
determine what is right or wrong in the society. Thus, they shape the behavior of people.
Co-operation is the next crucial element of culture, as it promotes interaction of people in a given
society. Through interaction, people are able to perform collective and important activities like
burials or pastoral activities which a single person cannot do.
Disadvantages of Culture Elements
1. Traditional ceremonies, such as "ngoma” contribute a lot to the spread of STIs (Sexually
Transmitted Infections) and diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Initiation ceremonies which involve
circumcision of birth female and male can also cause problems such as the transmission of
HIV/AIDS, especially when they are not done properly. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) can
cause high bleeding and difficulties during childbirth.
2. Through visual arts such as video and television, indigenous culture can be destructed by
imposition of foreign culture. Foreign culture is imposed through the media such as radio, print
and television. People learn different practices such as inappropriate dress styles, and other things
like gay lifestyles.
3. Social institutions and religious beliefs can transmit negative attitudes to the people about the
culture of a certain society. For example, colonial education and religion imparted ideas of
despising Africa culture and glorifying western culture. Christian missionaries said Africa culture
was “barbaric”.
There are some traditional ways of life which prohibit certain groups of people from eating
certain kinds of food which are nutritious. For example, there are taboos in some societies
that prohibit women from eating eggs when they are pregnant. Additionally, some
discourage family planning. Polygamist tradition may also be a cause of poverty and the
spread of HIV /AIDS. Patriarchy system as cultural practices limit women rights and hence
retards development of the society.
Culture helps make young people familiarize themselves with social values notably language,
beliefs and taboos.
It gives knowledge to people (young ones) on social transformation of different societies.
It helps people to know their past social settings and laws that have been governing nature in
different societies.
It exposes youngsters to tasks that are similar to those of elders.
It is a medium for bringing up youth in order to cope in a society.
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It enables people to transmit their skills, knowledge and wisdom from one generation to another.
It equips learners with insightful knowledge on bad and good cultural practices and therefore
chooses the positive ones.
The values of culture help the future generations to know how to escape from bad practices and
evils in the societies such as drug abuse, child abuse, stealing and any other kind of bad behavior
which is not proper to society. Ethics are passed by adult to young ones through informal
education.
Sports and games promote unity, cooperation and friendship among the social members. This is
because sport and games collect people together for sharing different ideas to build a better society.
Crafts in particular, provide the household with necessary materials such as furniture, pots and
baskets which are used daily. Some of them can be sold and provide money to people, hence a
source of income.
Traditions are also worthwhile for example; Initiation ceremonies prepare the young boys and girls
to make part their responsibility in the society as adults. They promote people from childhood to
adulthood. Some traditions and customs are worth –for example marriage and burial ceremonies
because they collect and bind together at times of problems and pleasure and share different ideas.
Customs help societies to adopt briefly certain cultural values like dressing style, eating habits,
hairstyles etc. which are sometimes worthwhile for acceptable in certain occasions - e.g. in
wedding ceremonies.
Art helps us to express our feelings, attitude and events in a very enjoyable way – e.g. through
songs, drama and pictures.
Recreations bring refreshment to a person after hard work. They help persons to relax and gather
energy before they engage in production again. Hence recreations are important to man. Ideology
is another important cultural element because it lays down the principles and conditions to be
followed by a given society. Thus, it provides a guideline to how people should live in a given
place and time.
Like ideology, rules and laws are very crucial as cultural elements because they defend social
norms and determine what is right or wrong in the society. Thus, they shape the behavior of people.
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Co-operation is the next crucial element of culture, because it promotes interaction of people in a
given society. Through interaction, people are able to perform collective and important activities
like burials or pastoral activities which a single person cannot do.
Products of Culture
Beside the elements of culture, we also have products of culture. Culture is now a commodity to
be sold in the form of made products, clothes, accessories, leisure opportunities, sportswear and
other consumer goods. Products of culture should be understood in its past-present forms.
All cultures must produce both economic and social types of products. The nature of these products
and their use depend on the cultural level of a given society.
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Care for the old, sick and disabled is a positive cultural value. It is the responsibility of the society
to take care of them, since they are a product of the society. The old, for instance, were once strong
people who gave birth to off springs who are now the strong able bodied people of the society.
The communal self-help is a crucial culture value as it promotes performance of collective work
in the society for the betterment of the people of the people themselves. Care for the young is a
very vital cultural value and it is done not only by parents but all members of the community. In
traditional societies, each adult person was a teacher and care taker to the young.
Community co-operation as a cultural value and it is done not only by parents but all members of
the community. In traditional societies, each adult person was a teacher and care taker to the young.
Community co-operation as a cultural value is important in that it is promoting interaction among
members of the society. Such co-operation brings unity and increases the ability of the community
in carrying out various communal activities. Proper or descent dressing according to local or
national norms is another positive cultural value because it preserves one’s good personality. It
makes the wearer look descent and acceptable in different situations depending on the nature of
one’s occupation, occasion and time for the dressing and the place in question.
Participation in civil activities is a positive cultural value since it brings people together towards
performing different constructive activities for the betterment of all the people e.g. constructing
roads, building schools for our children or even building dispensaries and clinics in places where
there is that demand.
Hard work is another positive cultural value certainly because through hard work a person is able
to produce more and better goods and service for the betterment of oneself, the community and
the nation.19Being informed is an important cultural value because; it makes an individual
knowledgeable about one’s duties, responsibilities and rights in his/her society.
Accountability and transparency: The society is supposed to perform its functions and duties with
openness so that people know what the society understands of their society. Once this is done,
peoples‟ expectations and wishes can be fulfilled. Transparency is very necessary for the
development of people and the society at large.
(ii) Negative aspects of cultural values
These are many but among the most outstanding are;
1. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)This is a collective name which describes procedures or
practices that involve partial or total removal of the clitoris in the female genitalia or other
parts of the female genital organ whether for cultural or other non-medical reasons. The female
genital mutilation is a violation of basic human rights. Areas affected with this practice in
Tanzania are Kilimanjaro, Dodoma, Arusha, Maynard, and Morogoro regions. In Dodoma, for
example, 12, 613 out of 16, 789 (75%) of the women who went for delivery between 1988 –
2000 were mutilated.
Reasons which force people to engage in (FGM)
There are several reasons which force some of the societies to adopt FGM. Most reasons are based
on the nature of the society. Among these are as follows:
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- To control women’s sexuality. Societies which adopt this practice (FGM) know that biologically
there are some parts of the body which are very sensitive during sexual intercourse. One of them
is the clitoris. So to prevent a girl from developing interest in sexuality and become loose they
mutilate it.
- It is propounded that FGM goes with initiation ceremonies that promote young girls to women
hood. Thus it is considered by some prestige traditional societies as a prestige and a sign of
maturity among girls.
Effects of Female Genital Mutilation
Marital conflicts due to sexual dissatisfaction. This situation can result from two reasons. Some
men dislike women who are mutilated. On the hand, circumcised women don’t enjoy the sexual
activity. Thus, they lack satisfaction in sexuality and may dislike sexuality altogether.
Women who are mutilated develop a feeling of anxiety and depression. This can be a result of the
pain they feel during circumcision or due to the deformation of their pain they feel during
circumcision or due to the deformation of their genitalia. This can cause psychological disturbance.
The practice can lead to the loss of one’s life. Some girls and women loss of blood from the cut
part.
The last effect is possibility of getting the HIV/AIDS infection as this practice is done under unsafe
conditions. Sometimes a single knife is used to circumcise several girls/women without being
sterilized. For this case, those who are mutilated have the risk of being infected with HIV/ and may
also get other diseases.
2. Wife inheritance: Wife inheritance is the process of taking one’s wife after the death of her
husband. Inheritance of wives can also be termed as inheritance of widows. This has been a
major problem to the societies which practice this system of life these days. This is because
those who tend to inherit widows can die due to the effects of HIV/AIDS because widows may
be victims of HIV/AIDS and a person who inherits them will be infected. This endangers one’s
life. Inheritance of widows should be discouraged in the society in order to avoid the rate of
transmission of different diseases such as HIV and AIDS. Also inheritance of widows seems
to be a violation of human rights because it has turned women into objects of leisure form men.
Widows appear to be there to be inherited to satisfy men who inherit them. Inheritance of
widows should be discouraged strongly in the nation.
3. Early marriage; This is the process/situation whereby a person gets married before his/her
right age. Normally the suggested right age for marriage is 18 years and above. Nowadays
marriages among people under the right age have been common. This has been happening
especially to young girls who21are married while they are still in tender age. These types of
marriages are sometimes accompanied by forced marriages.
4. Forced marriage; Sometimes young girls have been forced to get married to men whom they
do not want. Parents or guardian propound this situation perhaps for the aim of reducing the
burden of children at home. Young girls are thus forced to be married rather than being forced
to attend school. The reason is, some parents depend on the dowry or bride price they get as
capital for production. This situation leads to forced marriages. These are some of the driving
forces for early marriage because some societies think that bride price and dowry can help
them to run different social and economic activities.
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Customs which Lead to Gender Discrimination
Illustrate customs which lead to gender discrimination
These customs can best be analyzed by different institutions which perpetuate them. Such
institutions are:
1. The family: The family-level, it is a belief that boys will continue the lineage and support the
family, while girls will get married. Thus most families prefer to educate boys or spend more
money on them at the expenses of girls, when a choice has to be made between the two.
2. Traditional institutions: Initiation ceremonies play a major role in perpetuating bias. Girls who
have undergone initiation ceremonies become passive in school. Traditional counselors and elders
initiate, girls with emphasis on submissiveness to men. Because of that, women do not take part in
decision making at home.
3. Learning Institutions: In these institutions it is a common practice that boys are offered science
subjects and mathematics, while girls are made to study the traditional girls subjects29such as
home economics and typing. More often there is also discrimination from some teachers, who
expect boys to be more intelligent than girls. Girls are not encouraged to work hard.
4. Religious institutions: Church or Mosque leaders make references to the Bible or Quran on the
submissive nature of women. Women are denied opportunities to hold positions of leadership and
decision making in those institutions. In some mosques land churches, decisions made usually
discriminate women.
5. Work place: The socialization process in the community has effects on the community has effects
on the gender division of labour for boys and girls. Girls are marginalized from participating in
education and decision making activities.
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CULTURE AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
There are relationship between culture and reproductive health of the given society. The cultural
systems of life can be used to relate how far a society upholds reproductive health as a vital term
or issue to every society. This is because people are naturally engaged in production. So
reproduction needs a great care and attention so as to make it go smoothly. Reproductive health
can be boosted or undermined by a society depending on the nature of culture. There are some
cultural practices which are always degrading provision of social health services which
are30professional such as the local medicines which are not professional such as the local
medicines which are not professionally proved.
Reproduction means the process of giving out a newly born-off spring which resembles their
parents. Reproductive health ensures people satisfactory and safe sexual life with capability of
reproducing deciding when, how, why and also the ability to decide how many children to be
obtained and the ability to be free from sexual transmitted disease like gonorrhea, HIV, Pelvic
Inflammatory Disease (PIV) which damages the reproductive system.
The definition of reproductive health includes:
1. Knowledge of reproductive system, its functions and processes.
2. Men and Women are informed of and have access to safe effective, affordable and acceptable
methods of regulating fertility.
3. People have access to health care services which include prevention and treatment of infertility
reproductive tract infection and sexually transmitted infections and sexually transmitted infections.
4. Promotion of mutual, respectful and fair gender relations.
5. People are free to practice family planning.
Necessary reproductive health services
The following are some of the reproductive health services necessary to the individual in the family
and community:
Maternal clinics, child vaccinations and immunization.
Birth control by using contraceptive methods such as drugs devices and operations. Lack of
reproductive health services can lead to severe consequences. For example, many children could
die due to lack of immunity against curable diseases. Moreover, many women could die during
pregnancy or soon after giving birth. Tanzania is one of those countries in the world whose birth
rates are very high. It is currently estimated to be growing at the rate of 2 -8 percent. A high birth
rate affects the development of31the country negatively. Non-proportional increase of people to
the rate of economic growth hinders meaningful development.
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This is because there will be more months to feed than what is produced. Similarly, there will be
more children to take to school.
Initiation ceremonies
Initiation ceremonies include “Jando and Unyago” female genital mutilation and initiation
ceremonies. These have been hindering reproductive health due to the fact that they are carried
unsafely; like using one knife for circumcising the entire population. For the case of female genital
mutilation several disasters can arise, such as lose of much blood and development of scars which
may lead to severe pains during delivery.
Female genital mutilation: this causes prolonged bleeding during and after the mutilation. It also
disturbs the natural vaginal elasticity during delivery due to the scar left after mutilation. It also
reduces sexual pleasure during mating.
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Cultural practices affecting women and reproductive health
We made some explanation on how women have been treated in our societies. Women have been
at a disadvantage almost in all societies in the past. Many developing countries in Africa and
Tanzania in particular have been affected negatively by had cultural practices. These include those
habits of marriage, foods eating, and the practice of women mutilation, dowry payment,
inheritance and excluding women from the consumption of certain foods.
We made a detected account of these practices in Book One and Book Three of this series. We
need not say much about them in this book. However, we can touch some of them briefly in this
text.
a. Habits of marriage: In most African societies, there has been the practice of getting married to a
woman by first fulfilling the condition of paying what is called bride- price. This price has stood
as a payment paid for buying a commodity. Bride price paying has therefore acted as an enslaving
factor for women. Two examples can help us to get a good picture of this cultural practice. A
Sukuma woman married to a man with dowry of say twenty cattle, when she gives birth to a baby
she compensates for the cattle given as bride price from her husband. If it is a baby girl the amount
of cattle as compensation is a bit higher than a baby boy. Usually it was at the ratio of 5:4 until the
amount of cattle paid is exhausted then the woman is counted liberated. If she wants to divorce for
unbearable causes, she would be needed to repay the cattle in spite of her time spent with the
husband and her labour in producing whatever agricultural products or any other material gains
that she has contributed to the wellbeing of her family. In other tribes particularly pastoral
communities they have no regard to whatever the wife has contributed to the wellbeing of her
family. If she is divorced, she will have to repay whatever amount of cattle was given to her father.
Habit of food eating: In some tribe’s women are forbidden to eat certain types of food. The
Wakerewe tribe in Mwanza puts a taboo forbidding woman to eat goat meat, eggs and dogfish.
Such cultural customs were contributing to the poor health of women especially during pregnancy
or nursing a baby.
b. Decision Making: There has always been the cultural practice of excluding women in decision
making in important domestic, economic and political issues. Women have been regarded as being
unable to give good ideas on certain socioeconomic issues like marriage, education and the
domestic budget.
The government of Tanzania in realizing the social status of women and on the basis of the
Declaration of the Human Rights Charter together with the Beijing Declaration of 1955 has made
some attempts to improve the status of women. Parliament has enacted laws to give women right
to own property in land. It is now possible for women to own land during marriage or inherit land
after her husband’s death.
In addition, to the above explanations, the following are the problems facing women in Tanzania.
1. Poor health. This is due to the focus of the society that women should bear many children
something that tends to weaken their health.
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2. Poor diet and little food.
3. Lack of education.
4. Too much work. Women work harder and for many hours than men.
5. Maltreatment from their husbands. Some societies administer punishment over women. This cause
physical injuries and psychological hopelessness.
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus and AIDS stands for Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome. Getting HIV infection leads to a weakened immune system. This makes a
person with HIV to a group of illnesses that a healthy person without a virus would be unlikely34to
be affected by opportunistic infections HIV/AIDS is a killer disease which has no cure or vaccine.
The following are cultural practices that lead to the spread of HIV/AIDS and STI‟s.
Female genital mutilation (women circumcision) can lead to the spread of HIV because the
instruments used are nit sterilized and are used by the whole group being circumcised. Most of the
instruments used are knives, razor blades, and pairs of scissors or any other sharp tools.
Some tribes cut tribal marks on parts of the body of their kids claiming that they want to shed off
the dirty blood. Also the instruments used are not changed so they can spread HIV to the kids.
Inherited widows may contact or spread HIV from to men who inherit them.
Certain traditional dances are accompanied by alcohol drinking which can draw men and women
into sexual intercourse. Such practices may cause the spread of HIV.
Local traditional midwives who are not well trained may spread HIV/AIDS to both mother and
the newly born baby due to using unsterilized instruments.
Polygamy may also be a potential cause of HIV/AIDS. Once one of the wives get HIV/AIDS all
of them will also get it.
Forced marriage can also create problems where someone is forced to be married to certain man
or woman who may have unfortunately been infected with one of HIV/AIDS.
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5. Death because of excessive bleeding and STI‟s such as HIV/AIDS.
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1. Violation of human rights to women who are sometimes treated as bought objects.
2. Forced marriages conducted by parents after receiving dowry from the man intending to marry
their daughter.
3. Crimes, like beating of the bride when she refuses to obey.
These ways and actions can be discussed all two levels namely, strategies to liberate the whole
society.
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10. To participation in political matters and other economic activities. To justify this, the government
has added more than 15% special seats in parliament for women in order to bring about gender
balance and equal control of resources.
11. To make people aware with all things which cause gender inequality? In general, the world is still
emphasizing much on women empowerment through different forums and organization which try
to defend the rights of people such as human rights.
Introduction After their independence, African countries took steps to promote and preserve their
culture at national level. Efforts were taken by African governments, churches and communities
to reach this goal. Why national culture? This has been so because a national culture is a symbol
or identity of a nation. It comprises things such as language, art, science, technology, education,
economy, politics, beliefs and values. The values are expressed in songs, dances and ceremonies.
In addition, culture s dynamic. That is, it changes with time to suit the current social, political and
economic situation of a nation. No two nations can have an identical culture. In order to promote
the Tanzanian national culture soon after getting independence the Ministry of National Culture
and youth was established in 1962. Over the years, it changed names and departments although its
basic objectives remained unchanged. Its major departments are:
The National Kiswahili Council
The National Sports Council.
The National Festivals and State Celebrations Councils;
The National Department of Museums, Antiquities and national Archives;
The National Film Censorship Board and;
The Department of Arts and Crafts.
Promotion and preservation of national culture is a combination of efforts made by people under
their government to enhance growth and existence of the culture which has to be practiced in the
nation. Efforts towards the Promotion and preservation of culture have been going on in Tanzania
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since 1962. In 1962 the Ministry of National Culture and Youth was formed. The objectives
remained unchanged. Cultural promotion has resulted into the following:
Kiswahili to become the national language.39
In 1967 the government introduced Education for Self-reliance policy which used education to
transmit African values.
Local/ national styles of dressing were officially adopted.
To develop, promote and control all amateur sports in the country. The Council does this in co-
operation with voluntary amateur sports organizations. Amateur sports are sports played for
enjoyment, not for monetary gains.
In order to carry out this, the National Sports Council does the following:
1. Provides training to staff members.
2. Grants or gives aid to national sports associations or organizations.
3. Provides play fields and other sports facilities.
4. Provides sports equipment and other sports items necessary for international sports competitions
and festivals. In so doing, national sportsmen and sportswomen gain experience. The council
through sports stimulates and fosters friendly relations with other nations. The Council stimulates
interest in all sports at all levels in the nation. And finally, the council plans general policy for the
promotion of sports.
5. Provides medals, diplomas, certificates, or any other rewards to competent people who deserve
them.
6. Provides scholarship for the training of coaches and sports administrators. Advises the responsible
minister on all matters related to ports.
The Council facilities celebration of important national occasions. The council ensures that the
nation does not engage in meaningless and unending celebrations. The council deals with national
public holidays. These national occasions are celebrated with demonstrations, speeches, songs,
dances, feasts, sports and games. There are religious holidays as well, which are public holidays
but are not under this Council. The holidays include Christmas for the Christians and Idd for the
Muslins. Prayers, sports, games, dance and feasts mark these religious holidays.
These departments preserve the national heritage in the form of cultural treasures and writings.
Hence, they strongly stimulate cultural enthusiasm among the people.
1. Museums; There are national as well as regional museums in Tanzania. They provide a safe and
permanent place for preserving national traditions, customs and works of art. They serve as cultural
and recreational centers for the people of the United Republic of Tanzania. They are also important
as attractions for visitors or tourists. They serve as educational institutions for current and future
generations. The national museums are supposed to be research centers. Information from such
centers can be used for educational purposes and in publishing books and pamphlets.
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2. Antiquities: Antiquities are important objects that have existed for a very long time. They include
remains of ancient buildings such as mosques, churches, place and tombs. Tanzania is very rich in
antiquities, for example, the ruins of old buildings found at Kaole (near Bagamoyo), Kilwa and
Mtwara – Mikindani. The ancient bomas found in Dar es Salaam and some district and regional
headquarters. The department was formed to preserve these objects, which are called antiquities.
3. The national Archives; This organ has one main role that is, to censor films before they are
shown. To censor a film means to examine it and decide whether it is not effective. This has been
very difficult with the introduction of TV stations and videos. Hence the Tanzanian society at large
and every person should have moral obligation of seeing that scandalous films are not shown.
Films are required to promote national culture, education and development. Therefore, this organ
and every Tanzanian is supposed to ban films, videos, or pornographic pictures, which promote
bad behavior such as murder, violence, robbery, gangsterism, prostitution, drug-abuse and racial
segregation.42
4. The Council of Arts and Crafts African countries through their government and communities
encourage creativity in art and crafts. Each country identifies its cultural needs. Then, art and crafts
are applied to serve those needs. The main purpose is to make art and crafts servants of man. They
are supposed to be tools to help. Africans understand and shape their societies according to their
collective needs. That is the meaning of creativity.
Educational institutions
the following;
1. To integrate existing educational facilities;
2. To expand education at primary, secondary, college and university level;
3. To adopt African and Euro-African national languages as the languages of instruction in schools,
colleges, and universities. In primary schools and Teachers Colleges , while English is the medium
of instruction in the English medium primary schools, all secondary schools ,colleges and
universities;
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4. To reshape the content of the curriculum to make it more relevant to the needs of the growing
African nations. Educational policies were established in most of the African countries so as to:
5. Enable Africans understand their responsibilities in Africa societies;43
6. Design and implement suitable educational programs, that is, Africans should be able to identify
their problems and solve them intelligently;
7. Train Africans to get and preserve knowledge, wisdom and experiences;
8. Get the Africans to pass on the knowledge, wisdom and experiences to future generations.
9. Get and teach the best from other educational systems which influence African lives; these are the
traditional African systems and the foreign ones;
10. Merge or combine theoretical and practical knowledge; in Tanzania, for example, the policy of
socialism and self-reliance was introduced by Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and to make it practicable,
education for self-reliance was introduced in schools.
11. This is the way to maximize the impact of knowledge on the present and future societies of Africa.
Mass Media
African countries use the radio as a way of transmitting their culture. To date in Tanzania, there
are a good number of radio stations which presents programs with cultural matters.
Despite all attempts made by the government to build/promote and preserve national culture, still
there are some problems which act as hindrance. These which act as hindrances these factors
include the following:
1. Colonial legacy: Because of colonial legacy many Tanzanians are not confident in creating things.
They are still having the mental attitude of assimilation and association together with the
administrative and the education systems. Through all these colonial systems, Africans were
forced to inferior.
2. Low level of science and technology: The capacity of production material and morally is doomed
in Tanzania because much of technology is brought from abroad i.e. Science and technology
dependence.
3. Ignorance: A great number of people do not know how to read and write. Thus the people are
limited to their environment. They can hardly effectively control their environment.44Hence, they
are trapped by the environment which hinders the promotion of their culture and civilization.
4. Bad leadership: Most colonialism hence they have a low standard of leadership. They cannot
establish concrete police to promote our cultural values. And even for those who can do so fail to
make follow - - ups. In this policies remain on shelves.
5. Lack of enough funds. This issue hinders proper and adequate facilitation to leaders and other
people who decided to do research or engage in promoting national culture.
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6. Globalization: The growing of social interaction among people of different culture history, the
growing of social interaction among people of different culture history, origin and different beliefs
has contributed much on hindering the promotion of national culture. An example can be
experienced on Tanzania traditional songs and ceremonies like the wedding song burial songs, the
mode of these ceremonies the nature of the religions belief system and the like.
Tanzania since independence has been struggling to her level best to promote and preserve the
national culture. The following are some of proposed solutions to problems arising in the process
of promoting and preserving our cultural values.
1. Reduce excessive dependency on foreign science and technology and instead implement the local
technology available.
2. Observing national festivals.
3. To provide educated on the importance of importance of culture.
4. Allocate sufficient funds in research development for national culture.
5. Forming youth /peer social sporting and civic groups and organizations to promote our culture.
6. Integrate culture with work.
7. Formulating good policies that promote culture.
8. Impose strict laws, rules and regulation for those who despise our culture45
9. Formulating good policies that that promotes culture.
10. Impose strict laws, rules and regulation for those who despise our culture
11. Electing good leaders with cultural sense.
CULTURE OF PREVENTIVE CARE AND MAINTANANCE AND PUBLIC PROPERTY
Preventive Maintenance
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Preventive maintenance can be defined as a system of planning maintenance and monitoring social
cultural settings in a community, which involves inspection, followed by maintenance and
modification which is necessary to make items and properties to use for a longer period.
Causes of Deterioration
The following are the main causes;
1. Lack of knowledge,
2. People’s attitudes,
3. Habits,
4. Disregard of public property,
5. Lack of use of common sense
6. Laser faire attitude
The Procedure for Preventive care and Maintenance
People should be aware of their surroundings. Preventive care should be considered under the
following:
Cleanliness.
The frequency of checkup and inspection.
Regional maintenance that minimizes the costs of up
keeping of buildings, furniture and mixtures.46
Regular maintenance that creates a conductive environment to users.
Institutions or public places should have a time table to ensure preventive care because people
need it.
Regular care maintenance of existing buildings and facilities, so as to ensure and prolong the life
span of buildings and equipment.
Factors for promotion and preservation of National Culture Matters which can promote the
growth and existence of culture are:
National language that should be spoken by the people and used for instruction in schools.
Protection of handcrafts industries against foreign goods competition such as importation of
unnecessary goods.
African artists like singers, dancers, poets should be assisted in composing and recording.
Popularization of local culture in mass media using-radio, television, videos, etc. The Tanzania
media is doing a good job to promote our culture.
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Commitment of leadership to promotion of national culture i.e. leaders should encourage people
to practice the national cultural ways of life.
Exercise 1
Consequences of Neglecting Timely Repair and Maintenance
Analyze the consequences of neglecting timely repair and maintenance
Life skills refers to ways in which an individual applies mental ability to control or deal with
oneself environment. It involves things like thinking, planning and implementation in order to
solve life problems such as social, political, economic and cultural.
In dealing with cultural values and its associated problems, various life skills are highly needed
for promoting and preserving culture. Examples of those skills are the skills of knowing and living
with oneself, skills of knowing and living with others, and skills of making effective decisions.
Social skills like relationship and friendship skills are very important in shaping an individual’s
behavior and make one accepted in the community. These skills help an individual to relate well
with others and become a responsible citizen.
Any society has establi8sh a foundation for its members to acquire various life skills which would
lead them to. This is only possible if culture is integrated with education system, and work in the
country. The big role players for promotion and preservation of national cultural values are the
government, parents, schools, religion and NGOs.
Education is necessary is order to improve the quality of labour force. Though education,
knowledge and skills are obtained to enable one produce more and better quality products. In
agriculture for instance, one can produce more and better crop by using knowledge and skills
obtained in agricultural lesson. Such knowledge and skills include proper use of fertilize irrigation
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methods, pest control condition methods, pest control, condition necessary for the growth of crops
and weeding.
Education also offers life skills related to employment and income opportunities Technical or
vocational training is provided so as to offer such knowledge and skills. People with such
knowledge and skills can start their own businesses and in this way gain income.
Through health skills, one learns the different types of diseases and how to prevent them; one
learns children care and family management, nutrition health and hygiene. This will improve the
health of the learner and the society as a whole. Mother’s knowledge on reproductive health and
literacy in general has effects on fertility, infant and child mortality.
In short, life skills education can change an individual and the community to meet personal and
national needs. This is because life skills education increases the individual’s ability to be more
productive.
Problem Solving
Life skills constitute a knowledge and aptitude that are necessary with maximum efficiency and
accuracy. One of the categories of life skills is critical thinking it uses skills such as reasoning
inquiry, analysis, processing, flexibility and evaluation.
In problem solving, it is crucial to adhere problem solving techniques because are helpful as
follows:
1. They help to tackle problems which seem to be complex.
2. They minimize conflicts, frustration and misunderstandings.
3. They help people to overcome limitations in human mental machinery for perception memory and
inference.
4. They overcome constraints and inhibitions that limit the range of ones thinking.
5. They help analysts achieve their full potential. Problems vary from potential. Problems can be
those concerns with adolescents, reproductive health, family life issues socio-economic issues or
environmental issue steps in production solving process.
The process of problem components subjected to the type of problem in place. Steps for problem
solving process include:
1. Definition of problem.
2. Problem analysis endeavor
3. Generating possible solutions
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4. Analyzation of the solutions and;
5. Selecting the best solution
In any society there are leaders who lead other people in a given community. These leaders can be
measured on how confident and self-worth are they confidence and self-worth may help a leader
build good relationship with other community members that result to team work spirit successful
leadership trustfulness amongst members in community hence development.
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